How this UW grad left the coding world and created an Upstart-funded game company

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The path to the gaming world has been an interesting one for recent University of Washington grad Vincent Lucero. See, Lucero has always had a passion for technology. He was a Hewlett Packard Scholar in high school and landed a job with Xbox Live at Microsoft during college. But soon enough, Lucero knew he no longer wanted to spend his… Read More…

Nerd Notes: A free Smart Car, Subway sandwich thieves and the pope resigning, again

New Facebook CTO Mike Schroepfer

Editor’s Note: Nerd Notes is GeekWire’s roundup of random geekiness from around the globe. Want a free Smart Car? If you refer a developer or designer to Seattle startup EnergySavvy and he or she gets hired, you’ll receive a Smart Car or a $14,000 cash prize. But hurry, there’s only a week and a half left. To… Read More…

How this online portfolio service pivoted to donate money to designers in need

Team Well Crafted, Keith and Jana Harper

In 2011, husband-and-wife duo Keith and Jana Harper — both Seattleites — developed Well Crafted, a customizable online portfolio where designers could display their work. The inspiration hit Keith when he became frustrated with manually updating his portfolio time and again. With Jana as the developer and Keith as the designer, the team of two set… Read More…

Nerd Notes: An elevator murder prank and Steve Ballmer starring in a Taylor Swift song

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Editor’s Note: Nerd Notes is GeekWire’s roundup of random geekiness from around the globe. Not-so-funny elevator prank: The marketing team for the new film Dead Man Down, which was released in theaters Friday, thought it’d be funny to trick innocent New Yorkers into thinking they were witnessing a real elevator murder. Did they cross the line?… Read More…

Startup Spotlight: High school whiz kids create Q&A website Junglr

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For most teenagers, balancing homework and a social life is plenty of work. But for three Mercer Island High Schoolers, that wasn’t enough. Zack Elliott, Isaac Diamond, and Robert Sun have been working for over two years to develop the question-and-answer site Junglr. “Our goals were not lofty,” said 18-year-old CEO Elliott, who interned at Microsoft… Read More…

Nerd Notes: Gay marriage and sushi, printable guns, and a 5-year-old’s $2,500 iPad spending spree

National Day of Unplugging

Editor’s Note: Nerd Notes is GeekWire’s roundup of random geekiness from around the globe. National Day of Unplugging (NDU): Beginning tonight at sunset, and ending 24 hours later, citizens across the nation are encouraged to unplug from all media. Even GeekWire’s John Cook is giving it a shot. Participants are asked to share their reasons for… Read More…

Smashing Ideas helps bring Wizard of Oz back to life on the tablet

Oz Ebook Cover

L. Frank Baum, author of the classic children’s book “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,” probably wouldn’t have guessed that his timeless novel would one day be transformed into an interactive reading application, complete with music, sound effects, and narration. Furthermore, he wouldn’t have even dreamed that his 1900 novel would be available as an iPad… Read More…

This app studies your text messages to recommend restaurants

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Intelligent robot assistants like Siri have changed the way we interact with our mobile devices, and can now make recommendations for us. But the technology has yet to fully adapt to our personal preferences. University of Washington graduate student Jared Bauer is developing an application that has several of the same functions as Siri, such… Read More…

Nerd Notes: Tiny planet, 3-D drawing and an iPad joystick

Bradford Farwell and Kirsten Potter in Photograph 51. Photo: Alan Alabastro

Editor’s Note: Nerd Notes is GeekWire’s roundup of random geekiness from around the globe. 3-D Pen: A new pen called the “3Doodler” will allow you to draw in 3-D. The $75 gadget is basically a 3-D printer in the form of a pen. It heats and cools plastic ink, giving users the freedom to draw real objects… Read More…

30 Hour Famine: Teens tweet about starving for charity

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This weekend, the Christian humanitarian organization World Vision will put on its 20th “30 Hour Famine,” a biannual youth fasting event aimed at raising awareness and money for hungry families around the globe. Participants were asked to raise money prior to the event, and today, they will begin fasting to get a glimpse at what it… Read More…